Better Services Mean Market Shares -- SurveyChinese IT makers still have a long way to go to catch their foreign counterparts in service, which has become one major revenue source, according to a recent report by CCID Consulting Co Ltd, a leading IT industry research firm under the Ministry of Information Industry."IT services have become a core cutting edge of competition in the market, but Chinese companies still have much to learn from their foreign rivals," said Zhang Hongfen, assistant president and a senior analyst of CCID Consulting. "Price wars are dangerous to the healthy development of the industry," she added. It is estimated that services generate 30 to 50 per cent of the total profits for international giants like HP and IBM, while price cuts are regarded by domestic firms as the easiest and quickest way to gain market shares. CCID's report shows that Chinese businesses have two major problems -- fulfillment of service promises and poor brand-consciousness. "Many companies fail to keep their promises," said Zhang. "That will be harmful to the long term development for a business," Zhang warned. CCID also predicted that the outsourcing of services to third parties and chain service stores will be the trend. The survey of CCID Consulting shows that more than one third of users received services from third party service providers and almost 90 per cent of customers expressed satisfaction with the services. "The fine segmentation of IT market gives plenty room for development of professional providers and that will be a three-win strategy for IT producers, service providers and customers," Zhang said. However, the report also indicates those domestic businesses which intend to seek a long-term development in the market are realizing the importance of service. Legend, the largest computer maker in China, won two titles in commercial computers and servers, while another Chinese computer vendor Founder Technologies was also among the top service brands in laptops and servers. Sources: China Daily |
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